Search for missing soldiers fruitful

By TIMES WIRES
Published May 17, 2007

IRAQ

Four days into a search for three American soldiers abducted in an ambush, military officials said Wednesday that they had detained several residents who confessed to taking part in the attack and that they had recovered equipment that might have belonged to the soldiers. Col. Michael Kershaw, the commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division - the unit that was attacked and that is leading the search - declined to describe the recovered equipment or quantify the number of detainees who had admitted to involvement in the ambush on Saturday. The U.S. military also has offered up to $200, 000 for information leading to the return of the soldiers thought to be held by an al-Qaida group.

LONDON

Prince Harry won't be sent to Iraq

Prince Harry will not be sent to Iraq, Britain's top army general, Richard Dannatt, said Wednesday, citing "a number of specific threats" from insurgents that expose the third in line to the throne and his regiment to an unacceptable degree of risk. The 22-year-old prince said he is disappointed but respected the decision. Media reports have said Iraqi insurgents planned to kill or kidnap the prince and have circulated his photo in the city of Basra. One newspaper report quoted a militia leader saying he planned to take the prince hostage and to send him back to his grandmother - Queen Elizabeth II - "without his ears." In an interview for his 21st birthday, the prince said he would not have gone through the rigors of officer training at the Sandhurst military academy to "sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country."